In the world of telecommunication, miles of multi pairs of single solid conductors are enclosed in a protective sheath which are strung on poles or buried in the ground. This cable is paid-off a huge reel holding miles of cable. Obviously only a limited length of the cable can be paid off the reel in any one work period. This presents a problem as to the cable remaining on the reel since it is a temptation to thievery, i.e., thieves cut the cable and steal that remaining on the reel. Note here that they do not steal the reel which is heavy and cumbersome and usually locked to the trailer that is supporting it. Instead the thieves unwind the cable from the reel, cut it and make off with the severed cable of valuable copper. The theft of the cable in and of itself is a loss of valuable copper, but a greater loss is sustained by the fact that to continue the cable laying project, a new cable must be spliced in at the cut. Hundreds of pairs of solid copper wires might have to be spliced at a labor loss of hundreds of man hours.